Guiding Light of The Month

Grant, O Divine Teacher, that we may know and accomplish our mission upon earth better and better, more and more, that we may make full use of all the energies that are in us, and Thy sovereign Presence become manifest ever more perfectly in the silent depths of our soul, in all our thoughts, all our feelings, all our actions.
- The Mother

The October edition of our Newsletter has as its theme canto 4 of Book Seven of Savitri, in the Book of Yoga, The Triple Soul Forces. Savitri’s yoga continues as she seeks out her soul. She was then on the highway that led her past luminous souls. She met luminous beings along the way and felt a deep silence in her midst and fathomed her nearing destination. However, such luminous destinations rarely come so easy. Savitri still has vistas to cross. In this canto, Savitri comes face to face with the triple soul forces, and the alter-egos of these divine forces, now muted, restricted, curbed and curtailed, not being able to carry out their divine work, but which, with an awakened Psychic would be able to realise and execute the true purpose of their existence in the being. It has been an amazing journey that we have had with Savitri as she traversed rough roads earlier and who now stands close to the gateway leading to her soul. It is exhilarating even to know that we are indeed travelling with Savitri and discovering our own inner world and its inhabitants. In this particular juncture of the journey, we stand face to face with the Divine powers residing within us but Divine powers left bereft of the means to express themselves fully. They appear in their limitation and yearn to be realised and expressed in their fullest. But this comprehensive expression can never be, unless the Soul emerges from behind the dense dark clouds of our nature and comes forward, resplendent and shining, removing the clouds forever, and giving the full power to the now limited Divine powers to exist in their divinity fully. In order, the first force or power we meet is the Power of Divine Compassion. She embraces the agony of the downtrodden, the beaten, the defeated, the incapable, and all that suffers in the night of God in incapacity. As she completes her introduction, another voice rises from the void, the voice from the shadow of Divine pity, which is Self-Pity. This creature is steeped in the toxic waste of self-pity, and writhes in pain, seized with dejection and rejection, accepting its lot as given.

Next on the journey, she meets with another force, the power of Divine Strength, who is here to help the being stand strong and do a work for God, who is still striving to perform her work but who waits faithfully for God to come and give her the Divine Power to express herself fully. The alter-ego of this power of Divine Strength speaks next, in ignorance. This is the ego of world desire, which brags about all its achievements here. It reeks strongly of our modern thinking mind, devoid of the expression of the workings of the higher consciousness. Savitri moves on and comes face to face with another being on a higher ground, the force or Divine Power of Light which is the reason of all true wisdom, bliss and peace. She too is awaiting the fullest expression of her power since the reigning power of the soul is still in the background, denying her the power of true expression. The voice of the alter-ego, the lower mind in man cries out its misery of being bound to the body, which at this point is still limited, receiving its inputs from the limited senses to fathom its truth, and express it, in its smallness and deformation. To all these divine powers which are yearning to exist in their truth, Savitri gives the assurance that she will bring to them that Light, Love and Life that alone will save and continues on her upward journey.

Q: Maheshwari lays down the large lines of the world-forces..." What
does this mean" the large lines of world-forces?

The Mother: It means that she makes the plan of what the world should be, of the
universe.

She has a vision of the whole, a global
creation, instead of seeing the details she sees the totality if things, she
lays down the large lines of the plan, and what the creation should be like, towards
what it ought to advance , and then what the results will be.

She has a universal vision, she is less
concerned with the details thank with the whole.

Savitri's single-minded quest
has now brought her almost to the threshold of her inmost, her secret soul. She
is met, one by one, by the soul's triple forces, each embodied as a mother
spirit, as a Madonna. First the Madonna of suffering, Mother of sorrows and grief
divine; next, the Madonna of might, Mother of works and force; and last, the
Madonna of light, Mother of joy and peace. Each claims to be Savitri's soul,
and each is partly right; but Savitri cannot, she will not, accept these
partial identifications. She will not stop till the full splendour of
self-discovery overwhelms her.

First to meet Savitri during the
"passion of the first ascent" is a woman in "a pale lustrous
robe", seated on "a rugged and ragged soil", with "a sharp
and wounding stone" pressed against her feet. She is as it were the
incarnation of the world's pain. From the anxious moment of birth to the
"dolorous end of life", it is a tale of striving and failure, sorrow
and pain; and the Mother's compassion goes out to man as he thus lies stretched
on the cross:

Accepting the universe as her body of
woe,

The Mother of the seven sorrows bore

The seven stabs that pierced her bleeding
heart:

The beauty of sadness lingered on her
face,

Her eyes were dim with the ancient stain
of tears.

"I am thy secret
soul", she tells Savitri, "I am woman, nurse and slave and beaten
beast/.. .I am the spirit in a world of pain".285 In the course of her
long sad impassioned speech, she gives an account of her unique preoccupation
with human suffering and her round of painstaking works to tend the lowly, the
miserable, the nearly lost. However seemingly hopeless the human lot, however
apparently unavailing the appeals to Heaven, she has neither denied nor lost
hope of deliverance. When she concludes her speech, however, there explodes a
cry from below, the voice of the Man of Sorrows, breathing exasperation and
despair, a job in his burning passion of defeat:

I am he

Who is nailed on the wide cross of the
universe;

To enjoy my agony God built the earth,

My passion he has made his drama's theme.

He has sent me naked into his bitter
world

And beaten me with his rods of grief and
pain

And so on, a mixture of defiance
and impatience, assertion and negation, Titan and man. Savitri, having heard
both the Madonna and the Man of Sorrows, answers with serene understanding; the
Madonna is indeed a "portion" that Savitri's soul has put forth
"to bear the unbearable sorrow of the world"; because of her, the
wretched can somehow bear their wretchedness and hope against hope for a dawn
of deliverance. Savitri promises to return to the Madonna with an accession of
strength that will enable them to abolish cruelty and misery forever from the
earth. But, in the meantime, Savitri must continue her quest.

Next to meet Savitri on her upward route
is a woman in "gold and purple sheen, /Armed with the trident and the
thunderbolt"; her feet on a lion's back, her eyes emitting fire, her head
ringed with a halo of lightnings; it is the Mother of Might, and she tells
Savitri:

I am Durga, goddess of the proud
and strong,

And Lakshmi, queen of the fair
and fortunate;

I wear the face of Kali when I
kill,

I trample the corpses of the
demon hordes...

I rend man's narrow and
successful life

And force his sorrowful eyes to
gaze at the sun

That he may die to earth and
live in his soul.

While Durga-Lakshmi claims that
she alone is Savitri's secret soul, there comes a "warped echo" from
below, from "the dwarf Titan, the deformed chained god"that is man
the master of knowledge and power, the asuric man; he is the man that has
mastered Nature and would one day supersede God; he would smash the atom,
canalise cosmic energy, "expunge a nation or abolish a race".

Savitri, having heard them both,
admits that while knowledge and power are necessary, without wisdom they cannot
achieve much. Savitri promises to return to the Madonna of might with an
accession of light that will enable them together to abolish fear and weakness
and hatred forever from the heart of man. In the meantime, Savitri will continue
her quest.

Savitri meets last the Mother of joy and
peace. The Madonna of light stands revealed on a piece of clear and crystalline
ground; sun-bright her face, moon-bright her feet, nectarean her smile; she too
claims in captivating musical speech to be Savitri's secret soul:

I have come down to the wounded desolate earth

To heal her pangs and lull her
heart to rest

And lay her head upon the
Mother's lap

That she may dream of God and
know his peace

And draw the harmony of higher
spheres

Into the rhythm of earth's rude
troubled days.

She buoys up man with dreams and
visions, with ideals and aspirations; freedom, valour, justice, resignation,
thought, wisdom, beauty, truth, good, all are but godheads of the human soul;
against the pressure of the ignorance, man struggles to raise himself to the
level of the gods, and the Madonna arms him with the necessary faith and
perseverance:

I bring meanwhile the gods upon the
earth;

I bring back hope to the despairing
heart;

I give peace to the humble and the great,

And shed my grace on the foolish and the
wise.

I shall save earth, if earth consents to
be saved.

Once again, as the Madonna's
voice ceases, there comes up another cry, "a warped echo naked and
shuddering" from the mental Man, man the apologist and would-be
practitioner of pure reason:

The finite he has made his central field,

Its plan dissects, masters its
processes,...

His knowledge scans bright pebbles on the
shore

Of the huge ocean of his ignorance.

Hasn't the sum of the giant
endeavours of mere mental man petered out into nothing? No wonder "a
cosmic pathos" trembles through the moan of the "all-discovering
Thought of man", man the natural scientist and philosopher.

In
this Canto, Savitri goes onward in her search for the secret cave of her soul.
At first she finds herself in the supernatural darkness that intervenes before
one reaches God,

She
moves silently and approaches a wide end. The emptiness breaks, a wave ripples
within, and there is a blissful stir. Dawn breaks out followed by Day and in
that brilliance Savitri recognises the mystic cavern which is the dwelling of
her secret soul. The great rock-doors of the cave appear in an awful dimness.

Savitri passes from room to room, she feels
her self one with all that she sees and a sealed identity within her awakes.
She realises that she herself is the Beloved of the Supreme.

Once
again Savitri finds herself on the human soil. She finds that the half-opened
lotus-bud of her heart has bloomed revealing her secret soul. Her being calls
the mighty Mother of the worlds to come down and in a flash a Face, a Form
comes down into her heart. The moment its feet touch the quivering bloom of her
heart-lotus, a mighty movement rocks the inner space and a flaming serpent
rises released from sleep in the Night of the Inconscient. It storms its way
upwards, striking all the lotuses — Centres of Consciousness — on its route and
setting them vibrating in light and bliss, till it reaches the Eternal’s space
in the crown of the head.

The
mighty Mother — an image of the original Power — is seated there, armed, her
arm lifted in a saviour gesture, a sacred beast prone below her feet.

All
in the being of Savitri undergoes a celestial change. The working in each of
the Centres, the Lotus-kingdoms, is transformed. Behind all stands her
deathless soul casting aside its veil of Ignorance and surrendered in the hands
of the World-Mother.

September
2nd – Reading from All India Magazine – August 2018

The
Secular Legends- Sri Aurobindo talks about how even the great
epics like Mahabarata looses its original kernel of sweetness when redacted by
the later poets.They become disfigured and marred by transforming them into
secular legends.

The
Hindu Mind- It is really amazing how Sri Aurobindo has analysed both our Hindu
mythology and

Greek
mythology. While Greek minds aimed at limited and finite perfection, Hindu mind
went beyond the surface of the earth to infinite spiritual loveliness and
exaltation.

The
true subject of Hindu epic -The characters of
Hindu legends-

-These
passages talk about how the main core of these epics are struggle between the
right and the wrong ideals, where the human and divine actors are just like
pawns moved to and fro by immense world impulses which they express.

And
also they present character types. For example Rama, Sita and Savitri represent
moral excellence.

In
their limit of extension the three meet and harmonise, and they are no more
triple but triune.

The
Rishis of yore-Sri
Aurobindo says our vedic Rishis won their knowledge by meditation working
through inspiration to intuition.Rishis
of the yore had incalculable spiritual energies. They were inspired thinkers.

September
9th – The Human Cycle

Mr
Suryanarayanan gave us an beautiful insight into Eric and also wrote this
passage for the newsletter.

Eric'
is one of the poetic dramas of Sri Aurobindo. 'Eric' is set in the heroic age
of Norway, when the many petty kingdoms were engaged in frequent fights with
one another.

Eric
(the hero of the play) wants to unite the entire SCANDINAVIA. He wins the first
round of battle and is elected as the King of Norway.

Even
after winning the war, Eric is not peaceful. He is afraid that one day or the
other 'all this realm with labour built' may dissolve like a transitory
cloud.

It
is in such a situation that the play begins. He feels besides strength and
wisdom he needs another power and prays to Goddess Freya to indicate to
him what is lacking.

At
this point, he suddenly hears a song

'Love
is the hoop of the gods

Hearts
to combine.....'

which
reveals to him that love alone can unite.

In
the profound words of Prof. M.V. Seetaraman :

Love
of the Goddess of Love desires love in Eric and he with his intense
faith and opening to Her finds love born in him with Aslaug (the heroine of the
play) as the instrument. And so he becomes the vehicle of manifestation of this
love for others. And his desire in every relationship is only to unite hearts
and so love in Eric desires love in others and brings the birth of love in
them.

Eric,
the complete man, can bring love in the hearts of a limited world of human
beings and save them from their death -in- life, their tragic existence, but to
save the whole world from Death is the work of the Divine Mother. The Vibhuti
looks forward to the Avatar. Eric points to Savitri.

September
16th – The Human Cycle

War and self-determination

We read a few passages from The Spiritual Aim
and Life. Jared facilitated in understanding the passages.

It talks about how the original spiritual
element of the religion is now crushed by its outward aids and forms and
machinery. And a great sign of this failure is when the individual is obliged
to flee from society in order to find room for his spiritual growth.

Now the religion is distorted and has made man
the slave of dogmas, slave of customs in addition to his being slave of his own
inner weakness, ignorance and passions.

The true spirituality in the religion makes
man get rid of this yoke and progress upwards for higher freedom and find the
finest inner law of his nature.

It was a fine,
pleasant Sunday morning—not too sunny, not too hot, but just perfect! The
entrance to MacRitchie Reservoir was abuzz with activity, as always. There were
flocks of people getting in at 8am and then there were the early birds who were
done with their exercise routine and all set to leave the place. All of us,
from, the centre, who were present at that point of time, formed a circle and
started off with our warming-up exercises. After a quick round of warming up
and stretching, we could soak in the wholesome environment of the Macritchie
reservoir, complete with the smell of the flowers on the trees, climbers and
bushes around, and the chirping of the morning birds, not to forget the buzz
caused by the human activity around.

Once done, we set out
on our walk. Since we had done the board walk quite a few times in the past, we
decided to take the path less travelled. We walked towards the kayak rental
point and headed off towards the path that led to the Jungle trail. As we
walked past, we saw several enthusiastic kayakers cutting though the water as
if they were on a motor boat! The coordination required while rowing is a
definitely a challenging task, and we were in awe at the balance and the
coordination exhibited by all those who were kayaking. Soon, we went past the
path around the water and headed off on a trail behind the board walk, running
parallel to it at the start, and then eventually diverting towards the Jungle
trail. This trail had a thick canopy on top, thanks to all the giant trees
lining the trail on either side. It was a muddy trail, with a lot of ups and
downs. Some of us just continued on the board walk itself. As mentioned
earlier, it was not sunny, but the air was heavy with moisture and we could
feel it weighing on us heavily. As we briskly walked along, we could hear the
sirens in the distance warning the Kayakers to get off the water as there were
giant rain clouds looming in the sky indicating a very heavy downpour. We
decided to pay heed to the sirens and quickly did a U-turn to make it to the
nearest shelter before the rain got to us. Some of us were lucky and made it on
time and some of us got a little drenched. Nonetheless, Macritchie reservoir
looked glorious with the grey clouds, the silver rain, the green trees and the
lovely blue water.

As the rain decided
to have some mercy on us and pause for a while, We were back near the water at
the end of the trail. We assembled near the Car Park and were all set to go to
the lovely home of Shailaja aunty and Rao uncle. A quick drive later, we were
all at their serene and beautiful house, which always has an air of aesthetic
beauty and calm around it. The sun was also out in all its glory at this point
.The turnout for the walk as well as for the brunch was one of the largest we
had had in the recent past. After the meditation, came the brunch--with all the
delicious food that was cooked so lovingly by aunty and uncle. We all felt
fortunate that yet another lovely walk and brunch had come to a close, leaving
us all waiting for the next month.